puzzled...

[jay]

What's wrong with "self-denial while helping others-in-need" as an ethic? For me it feels like almost a matter of honor...

Comments

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

My idea of ethical behavior is that I accept the offer of help from the person who is sacrificing least for it

Hmm. That makes sense, and I'd probably want to do the same thing in your place. At that time, it didn't occur to me that that would be one of your motivations, or that you'd care -- in some sense, I underestimated you. I apologize for that.

I'd hope you would support me in that
As a friend, I want to support you in making ethical choices, just as I want others to support me likewise. So in the same set of circumstances, I'd inform you of the side-effects. Hopefully... generalizing that to all people is hard.

[rosefox]

Apology accepted. As for generalization, I think it's partly difficult because you don't meet people with an open mind; you have a preconceived idea of how they'll behave (or probably several preconceived ideas, based on whether they're male or female, boss or subordinate, etc.), and so it's harder for you to see their internal workings and motivations and ethical sets.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

(nods) I have default behavioral-templates which I quickly adjust and tweak to match a given person's behaviors as I know them better... later, I use the refined model in a predictive sense, to interpret or project the meaning of that person's actions.